SENIOR L AD I ES Edmunds, 16, who skated to selections from


“Flamenco Fantasy” by Gustavo Montesano, opened her routine with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop and earned 66.04 points. Meanwhile, Nagasu, a 2008 U.S. champion


and 2010 Olympian, received a warm response from the Greensboro crowd. Nagasu, a mem- ber of the Pasadena Skating Club, finished third at the 2014 U.S. Championships but was left off the Olympic Team in Sochi. Te 21-year-old performed her short program to “Rhapsody on a Teme of Paganini” by Rachmaninoff and earned 65.28 points for her effort. Nagasu was the first skater in the final group


of the free skate to perform, and although she looked as if she was going to get off to a solid start, she got too close to the boards and hit the wall early in her program. She somehow managed to regroup and continue skating, but it was obvious the fall had rattled her. She later fell on a triple Salchow and in the kiss and cry she was sobbing in pain. She had hoped and trained for a spot on the


World team this year since she came so close and missed out a year ago, but wound up 10th overall. A newcomer to the senior scene named Kar- en Chen quickly brightened the crowd’s spirits. At 4-foot-10, Chen dazzled with her “Godfather Suite” program. Although she underrotated the second jump in her triple Lutz-triple toe combina- tion, she reeled off four more triples and included a double Axel-double toe-double loop at the end of her routine. Not many in the skating world predicted the


Gracie Gold


need it to be competitive on the international stage.


“We must move on,” Arutunian said. “We


cannot stop. If we do then somebody will come along and beat you up.” Although Gold did not skate her best in


the short program, a Lori Nichol-choreographed routine to a piano concerto by Edvard Grieg she had used in Sochi a year ago, she still had a strong showing — especially since she was coming off a stress fracture in her left foot. Gold said she first began experiencing some pain in her foot while in Japan for the NHK Trophy. She won that event only to come home to California and receive the stress fracture diagnosis. Te injury forced her to withdraw from the Grand Prix Final. Gold, a member of the Wagon Wheel Figure


Skating Club, turned a planned triple-triple in her short program into a triple-double but overall skat- ed well enough to place second. “It would be extremely easy to say the mis- take on the toe loop was because of the recovery from the foot fracture,” said Gold, 19. “Howev- er, it was not, because I’d been skating very well.” Polina Edmunds, a member of the Peninsula


Skating Club who made the Olympic Team with Wagner and Gold in Sochi, was third after the short.


14 MARCH 2015


15-year-old would contend for a medal at these U.S. Championships, but Chen, a member of the Peninsula Skating Club, did just that with a bronze (199.79 points). Chen’s coach of about two years, Tammy Gambill, however, did have the podium as a goal.


“I really did think it was possible,” Gambill


said. “She is like a sponge. She will try anything I ask her do, and she always wants to do more. I continually have to tell her to stop.”


Chen definitely was a bright spot, but it was


Wagner who once again stole the show. Wear- ing a red dress and skating to selections from the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge, she landed a clean triple Lutz-triple toe and included a second triple Lutz late in the routine. From start to finish, she kept the crowd in Greensboro mesmerized. “Tis was the first competition in a while


where I’ve been able to put out two totally solid performances,” Wagner said. “And it’s also the first competition in a while where I’ve said I’m going to put out two solid performances and then do that.” Gold, who felt the pressure of having to skate


after Wagner’s virtually flawless performance, skat- ed to “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” from Te Phantom of the Opera. Elegant but some- what tentative, Gold opened with a triple Lutz-tri- ple toe but later fell on a triple flip. Still, she fin- ished with 205.54 points and a silver medal, and earned a spot on the team that will compete at the World Championships in Shanghai in March. Te 1-2 finish from Wagner and Gold only


makes their on-ice rivalry that much stronger. Gold relayed a quote that said, “Tose that slay together, stay together.” “We will be the friendliest U.S. rivals,” Gold said, “but it makes for great TV.” Edmunds was the final skater to compete in


the free skate. Performing to music from Peter Pan, she struggled a bit in her routine, falling on a triple Lutz. She finished fourth with 192.62 points but was named to the World team, making all three Olympians from a year ago competitors to watch out for in Shanghai.


Chen missed the International Skating


Union’s age cutoff to compete at Worlds by about six weeks, as skaters must turn 15 by July 1 of the previous year. (Chen’s birthday is Aug. 16, 1999.) She will represent the United States at the World Junior Championships in Estonia in March and is eligible to compete in the senior Grand Prix Series in the fall. As for Wagner, Gold and Edmunds, who will


now prepare for Worlds, they know they have their work cut out for them with the red-hot Russians, but they believe their performances in Greensboro are a sign of good things to come in Shanghai. Te last U.S. woman to win a World title was Kimmie Meissner in 2006.


“I think the U.S. ladies showed that we’re a


force to be reckoned with,” Wagner said. “We’re coming in hot and the world better watch out.” Just some words of advice for anyone think- ing of writing them off.


Karen Chen


JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


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